Saving Justice

by Peter O'Mahoney

  “I had an appointment with Dr. David Mackie at 1pm. The appointment was in the Gold Coast Medical Clinic on Elm St.” Perkins’s voice was high-pitched and shaky. “I called the office and made the appointment about one month before I arrived.”

  “Did you attend the appointment?”

  “Yes.” She ran her fingers through her ponytail. “I arrived early and then waited for the appointment.”

  “And what time did you arrive at the Gold Coast Medical Clinic on Elm St?”

  “I arrived at around 12:15. I was early, but I was feeling ill, so I sat in the doctor’s waiting room. I didn’t want to walk around before the appointment. After a while, I asked the receptionist where the restroom was, and she directed me down the hall.”

  “When you walked down the hall, did you walk into the restroom?”

  “I was attempting to walk into the restroom, but I took a wrong turn and I accidently walked into another doctor’s office. I was feeling so sick, and I was, like, confused. I just didn’t have my bearings about me and I accidently walked through the wrong door.”

  “Do you know whose office you walked into?”

  “At the time, no, but I recognize the man now. It’s the man sitting at the defense table. Dr. Mackie.”

  “And when you walked into the office, what did you see?”

  The witness rubbed her neck as she prepared to speak about what she saw. “I opened the door, thinking it was the restroom, but it wasn’t. I was shocked when I opened the door. It was Dr. Mackie’s office, and when I walked in…” She paused for effect and bit her lip. “There was a woman on the bed in his office. The patient was naked, like literally naked, and he had one hand on the woman’s groin, and the other on her breast. She didn’t have any clothes on, not even her bra. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t… I didn’t understand what was happening.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I was shaken, embarrassed, and confused. If I knew then what I know now, I would’ve said something. But I just apologized for going through the wrong door, and left to find the restroom. I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t understand it. If I had known he was abusing her—”

  “Objection. Calls for speculation.” Hunter called out.

  “Sustained.” Judge Reed replied. “Miss Perkins, please stick to what you saw, and not your interpretation of what you saw.”

  Perkins nodded and then brushed the tip of her nose with her index finger. “Yes, sir.”

  “Can you please tell the court how the doctor reacted when you entered the room?”

  “He was angry I came into the room.” She pulled on her earlobe. “He said it was a private room and I was violating his patient’s privacy. He was shocked at first, but then he was angry.”

  “Did you leave right away?”

  “I did. I apologized and closed the door.”

  “What did you do next?”

  “I went to the restroom, and went back to the waiting room. Then I attended the appointment with Dr. Mackie, and left. It wasn’t until I received a call from the police that I knew…” She looked up to the judge. “That I became aware there had been a complaint about the doctor.”

  “When you went into your appointment with Dr. Mackie at 1pm, was it on time?”

  “No, he was about fifteen minutes late.”

  “And when you started the appointment, did Dr. Mackie say anything about the incident you saw?”

  “He laughed. Like, literally laughed. He thought it was so funny that I walked into his doctor’s office instead of the restroom.”

  “Did you spend long in his office for your appointment?”

  “No. He was rushed and distracted. I told him what my problems were. I was suffering a lot of anxiety, a lot of nerves, and I couldn’t sleep. I told Dr. Mackie that I needed something to ease my insomnia, and my previous doctor had prescribed pills to help me, but that was years ago. Dr. Mackie then wrote a prescription, and gave me a small box of pills for my symptoms and told me to go home and rest.”

  “Do you know what those pills were?”

  “Valium.”

  “Thank you, Miss Perkins. No further questions.”

  Hunter accepted the offer to cross-examine the witness, but took his time reviewing his notes, before opening his laptop and typing in a number of comments.

  “Miss Perkins,” Hunter began with a firm tone, “while looking for the restroom, how many wrong turns did you make from the reception area before you arrived at Dr. Mackie’s office?”

  “I’m not sure.” She avoided eye contact with Hunter.

  “As introduced by the prosecution earlier on day one, this is the floor plan of the Gold Coast Medical Clinic, Exhibit 25.” Hunter entered more details into his laptop, before he turned to the courtroom monitor at the side of the room. “Miss Perkins, as you can see, the waiting room is marked with an X, and Dr. Mackie’s office is marked with a Y. The restroom that you wished to use is marked with an O.” Hunter paused while the jury looked at the floor-plan of the building. “As is marked on this floor plan, the restroom is in a straight line from the reception area. In fact, there’s even a sign next to the reception desk pointing straight down the hall. However, you made two wrong turns before you settled on a door to choose. Why was that?”

  “I was sick and confused. I didn’t really know what was happening.”

  “As you can see on the floor-plan, you also passed another five doors on the hallway before you entered Dr. Mackie’s office. Can you please explain that?”

  “I thought it was the restroom at the end of the hallway. That’s what the receptionist said—she said I would find the restroom at the end of the hallway. But I was so sick and confused. I must’ve taken a wrong turn.”

  Hunter typed more commands into his computer and presented a photo of Dr. Mackie’s door. He introduced the picture as evidence to the court. The door was plain white, with the clearly marked name of Dr. Mackie at eye level in bold writing. “What is it about this door that said restroom, more than the other five similar doors that you passed?”

  “I don’t know why I chose that particular door, but I was looking for the restroom. I wasn’t really thinking about where I was going. I was on auto-pilot.”

  “Did you deliberately choose Dr. Mackie’s office?”

  “No, it was a mistake. Haven’t you been listening to anything I’ve said? I said I accidently chose that door.”

  “Hmmm.” Hunter made a disapproving noise, clear enough for the jury to hear, but not loud enough for the prosecution to object. “Were you waiting in the same waiting room as Miss Jennings before your appointment?”

  “Maybe, I don’t know. I didn’t see her before my appointment, but she could’ve been there. I was feeling ill, so I didn’t take any notice of the other people in the waiting room.”

  “Is it true that you only asked to use the restroom after Miss Jennings had been called into the doctor’s office?”

  “I’m not sure. I didn’t notice her.”

  Hunter nodded, paused, and then leaned back in his chair. “Miss Perkins, have you met Miss Jennings before?”

  “Not that I’m aware of.”

  Hunter waited a long moment. “Do you know a man named Joe Fielding?”

  The shock on her face matched the look that Miss Jennings had given earlier. The jury saw that shock.

  “Objection.” Rollins scrambled to distract the jury from her reaction. “Relevance. This is a wild goose chase that currently has no direction. Mr. Hunter is implying there is something significant about this name, however he’s not making the information available to us, nor do I see the person’s name, or any reference to them, on any witness or evidence list. If the defense wishes to include this name in the trial, then Mr. Fielding should be on the witness list.”

  “It’s hard to be a witness when you’re dead, Your Honor.” Hunter stated. The crowd murmured behind him. “Joe Fielding was murdered only weeks ago.”

  “Approach.” Judge R
eed waved them both forward. Hunter and Rollins approached the bench. Judge Reed turned off his microphone before looking at Hunter over the top of his glasses. “What’s the purpose of this line of questioning?”

  “We believe that this person, who has been charged with fraud previously, is connected to all the eye-witnesses in this case.”

  “And do you have evidence of this?”

  “We do. We have a witness in the defense list who will testify that Joe Fielding previously paid them to lie in court, and Joe Fielding made contact with a witness in this case.” Hunter was bending the truth. He was still working on getting Heather Monroe to testify.

  “That’s a long string to pull.” Rollins argued, but the look of shock on the prosecutor’s face said it all. Buried in the defense witness list were three names meant to cast doubt on the accusations. One of them was Heather Monroe. He knew she wouldn’t testify, and if forced to, she would lie, but that wasn’t his goal. He had a different plan for using her name.

  Judge Reed thought for a few moments before continuing. “I’ll allow you to continue for now, but it had better lead somewhere, Mr. Hunter.” Judge Reed turned back to the witness. “You may answer the question.”

  “Um… the name sort of rings a bell…” Perkins fidgeted with the edge of the chair. “I might’ve met him somewhere.”

  Hunter removed a photo and showed it to her. “This man?”

  “I think that’s him. I’m not sure how I know him though.”

  “Can’t remember?”

  “No, I can’t remember.” She brushed the tip of her nose again. “I don’t know where I’ve met him. It could’ve been anywhere.”

  Hunter placed the photo down. “No further questions.”

  “Your Honor,” Rollins stood up as soon as Perkins stepped off the stand, “the prosecution would like to call a recess in the light of new information coming forward.”

  “There’s currently no new information on the table, prosecutor.” Judge stated. “There’s no need for an unnecessary recess.”

  “Your Honor. I must protest. We need time to assess the name that’s being presented.”

  “Noted, however as I said, there’s currently no new information on the table. You’ve had months to prepare this case.” Judge Reed grunted. “Now call your next witness.”

  Chapter 23

  The first thing people noticed about David Denison was the scar under his left eye. It was hard not to. His eyebrows were pointed slightly downward, the wrinkles in his forehead were pronounced, and the corners of his mouth were turned down. His nose was long but wide, and his hairline had receded to the point where he should’ve given up on combing it. He wore a brown suit, the only one he owned, with a mismatched blue shirt, a black tie, and black sneakers.

  As the delivery driver on the day in question, he was a witness to corroborate what had already been said, someone who could help build a complete picture, although his police statement didn’t provide anything new or groundbreaking. He was another piece of the puzzle, something to add to the weight of the accusations.

  “Can you please state your name and occupation for the court?” Rollins began from behind the table.

  “David Denison, I’m thirty-five, and I live in Bucktown. I rent a one-bedroom apartment, I live by myself, and I work as a courier driver. I own and drive a Ford Transit Cargo van.” Denison was nervous on the stand—his speech was too fast, his brow was sweating slightly, and he was unable to sit in one spot for long. However, it also appeared to be his natural state of affairs. “That’s my occupation. A delivery driver. I deliver packages for people.”

  “And Mr. Denison, where were you on November 5th at around 12pm?”

  “I was delivering a package to the Gold Coast Medical Clinic on Elm St.”

  “And can you take us through what you saw when you delivered the package?”

  “I parked at the rear of the building, in a delivery spot off the main road, and walked through the courtyard to deliver the package to reception. It was hard to find a parking spot, but one opened up as I arrived. The main entrance of the building is around the other side, on Elm St, but I walked through the back entrance. I was delivering a package for the first time to the doctor’s office and I’d called the reception as I drove there. The receptionist told me it was best to deliver packages via the courtyard, so not to disturb the patient’s privacy.”

  “Can you please tell the court what you saw when you walked through the courtyard?”

  “My job is pretty boring, a lot of the time.” He looked to the jury, explaining his job. “It pays the bills, but you spend a lot of time on the road by yourself, so I like to check things out as I go past. You know, look in windows, see what else is happening in the world. It’s the only way I stay sane when spending so many hours alone. So I was walking through the courtyard, and I look over to my right, through one of the windows. I didn’t know what to expect when I looked, but the blinds were open, and I could see everything. And I looked in. Not like a pervert or anything, just out of curiosity. And I didn’t expect to see what I saw.”

  “What did you see?”

  “I saw that doctor there, Dr. Mackie, with his hand groping a naked woman’s breast. At first, I thought it must be some sort of doctor’s thing, like he was checking for lumps or something, but on second look, it looked like he was groping her in a sexual way.”

  “And when you say ‘groping in a sexual way,’ what do you mean?”

  “I mean he had his hand fully over the patient’s breast as she was laying down.” He made the action with his hand. “He was rubbing it all over. He had a smile on his face, which I thought was weird.”

  A few members of the jury nodded. He was nervous, but convincing. Rollins questioned Denison for the next hour, however nothing more significant was exposed. Denison talked too fast, said too much, and his evidence was becoming lost in a rolling wave of description. Hunter objected where he could, but there was nothing else to add. Yes, he saw the incident. Yes, he was sure it was Dr. Mackie. No, he didn’t say anything at the time. It was simple questioning, but effective. Rollins rested her questioning and Judge Reed gave Hunter the chance to change all that.

  “Thank you for talking to us today, Mr. Denison.” Hunter stood and moved to the lectern. “Can you please tell the court if you have any debts?”

  “Objection. Relevance. Again, Mr. Hunter is sending this court on a wild goose chase that distracts from the actual crime at hand.”

  “Your Honor, the defense is allowed to question the creditability of the witnesses.”

  “Overruled, but don’t go too far over the line,” Judge Reed stated before turning to the witness. “You may answer the question.”

  “Everyone has debts.” Denison responded. “That’s not a crime.”

  “That’s not what I asked.” Hunter stared straight at him. “I asked whether you have any debts?”

  He shrugged. “A few.”

  “A few?” Hunter responded. “Do you know how much those debts total?”

  “No idea.”

  “I have information here that says you owe more than $150,000 to various small lending agencies. Would that be correct?”

  “It could be.”

  “It could be? Mr. Denison, can you confirm if these are your details on these loans to five different lenders?” Hunter presented five files to the witness.

  “I suppose.”

  “Yes or no, Mr. Denison.”

  “Yeah, alright. They’re my debts. They come to $150,000. Sure. But it doesn’t mean anything.”

  “Have you defaulted on any of the loans in the past?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Shall I present that information to you as well?” Hunter raised his eyebrows.

  “Alright. Sure. Yeah. I’ve defaulted on those loans in the past. I’m not the only one to have defaulted on loans. It happens. I don’t always have work, and when there’s no work, I can’t pay the loans.”

  “And o
n November 10th, did you make $5,000 worth of payments to five different loan agencies?”

  “I don’t know how you know that. That’s private information.”

  “Again, that’s not what I asked. I asked, did you make $5,000 worth of payments to five different agencies?”

  Denison looked up at the judge. “You need to answer the question, Mr. Denison.”

  “Yeah, alright. I caught up on the loans. They were my back payments. I had some money, so I got those loan sharks off my back.”

  “Did you pay it in cash?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Where did that money come from?”

  “I had a big bet come in. Won some money on the horses. Someone gave me a tip. I made a bet with a bookie and won. It’s that simple.”

  “Was this after you presented as a witness in this sexual assault case?”

  “Objection!” Rollins leaped to her feet. “This is an outrageous accusation and is completely unfounded.”

  “Mr. Hunter.” Judge Reed raised his eyebrows to Hunter. “Do you have any evidence that these two are connected, apart from timing?”

  “No, Your Honor.”

  “Then the objection is sustained.” Judge Reed turned to the jury and explained they needed to disregard the statement by the lawyer and any connection between the timing of the debt payment and the timing of the witness statement. Judge Reed delivered a good statement about the comment, but it was useless. The damage was done. The jury were already questioning the connection.

  “Mr. Denison, do you know Mr. Joe Fielding?”

  “I knew him. He was an associate of mine. We’d crossed paths a few times, but I hadn’t seen him in years. When we met up, we talked about the Cubs. He was a big Cubs fan. He always thought they were going to win the World Series. Every year he’d say that it was their year.”

  “You haven’t seen him in years?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “Can you please look at the court monitor and tell us about the people in this photo, which you posted to your Facebook profile, dated July 5th last year?”